Ristretto #Culture
“There is no way art and society do not connect” Award-winning writer Elise Schmit has turned to the English language for her latest projects. She has also been vocal in arguing for the importance of inclusive language in culture.
You have just had a short story, Blue Like a Tangerine, published in English. What inspired you to write in English? During the first lockdown, I started writing stories for friends of mine, to cheer them up basically. And one of my friends is a writer who doesn’t speak German. So, I started working on two versions simultaneously, a German one and an English one. I was surprised, because I really try to showcase what I do when I write. So, it became a very personal and important story for me. And that is why I gave it to Red Fox Press [with illustrations by Antic-Ham]. You’ve also worked on a project for the Théâtre National, which, again, uses English as well as Luxembourgish? It is a coincidence, really. I never thought of writing in English at all. I had this project, Under The Sun, that I developed with a British actor, Adrian Decosta. And the idea was that each of us would write one character, and we would do the dialogue together. But our processes were so different that they were not compatible at all. So, we decided that I would write the entire thing. But it’s a good experience. It’s nice to know that I can widen my scope. It’s set in a dystopian world where climate change has such an impact on people’s lives that they cannot go out. In fact, the restrictions are very similar to the ones we encounter during the pandemic. And then it asks the questions: how can people meet? How can they fall in love? It’s a love story. And you know, it’s one of my love stories, so it’s pretty bleak. It will be staged in October, I hope. You recently also had a letter published in Tageblatt arguing for the importance of inclusive language in the arts and against straw man fallacies surrounding cancel culture. Why is this still a topic of debate in 2021? Some people do not want to let go of their privilege. Many people who engage in this debate pretend like there’s no problem at all, or that it’s just a joke. And they treat language as if it were the problem, whereas it’s only a symptom of an underlying problem, of an underlying inequality
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that is there and that we have to face, and that we have to do something about. Yes, surely the objective of literature and art is to reflect society. It is. If it wants to or not. I wouldn’t say that artists have to reflect on every topic that comes up in public debate. But their work will be seen in the context of what is an important topic at the moment. So, there is no way art and society do not connect. For me, it is important as this concerns language. This is my instrument. Do you think Luxembourg lags behind other western countries? It does. But Luxembourg is so small. And I think that is a problem. Our debate cannot be as diverse, because we do not have that many people. Absurdly, sometimes it is more difficult to be heard in such a small environment where it seems that the positions are fixed. And also, we have different languages. So, we can connect to many different debates in different countries. But we don’t have this one debate going on here. Do you wish more public figures or more people from the world of culture would jump on the barricades with you? Yeah. I mean, I’m surprised that I’m on the barricades at all. Because I think there are people who are more qualified to engage in this debate than I am. I just got upset in the moment and I wanted an outlet for this rage. Somebody has to do it. But as I also said on Twitter, the debate doesn’t need me, and I do not need this space for myself.
Author and literary critic Elise Schmit has twice won the Concours Littéraire National.
Interview DUNCAN ROBERTS Photo ROMAIN GAMBA
